


Angel With a Shotgun

by Crystal_Rose_Witch



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Exo Titan - Freeform, Gen, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Self-Doubt, Survivor Guilt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-21
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:42:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21889888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crystal_Rose_Witch/pseuds/Crystal_Rose_Witch
Summary: Theo-12, a titan with some lingering emotional issues from the Red War, accepts a request from Osiris to traverse the corridors of time after reforging the shotgun of the legendary Titan Saint-14 to succeed where Osiris failed and find said titan who has been lost to the Infinite Forest.One needs help adjusting to the present, one needs help overcoming the past, together they may help each other move towards a better future; not just for themselves but for everyone.
Kudos: 25





	1. Chapter 1

He couldn’t do this. What made him think he would be able to actually save Saint-14, greatest Titan who ever lived? Yes, he promised Osiris that he would try and succeed where he failed and actually save the Exo but now? Now he was staring down what felt like an impossible task that he wasn’t sure he could accomplish. He wasn’t sure if Saint would even be alive and still using the Perfect Paradox when or if he ever found him again.

The titan sank down into his chair onboard his ship, fingers clenching the stock of his gun, “Hey, hey easy there…might want to loosen your grip before you shatter the stock of your Perfect Paradox…” His head jerked upright as he heard his ghost’s voice before slowly loosening his grip, “Don’t worry so much…we still have to charge the sundial. Now pick, Crucible or Gambit?” He had two selections available on his screen, one for the classic mix of The Crucible, the other was regular Gambit. He put in to do the Crucible as he was flying solo this time, no fire team to back him up.

Osiris had told him it would take a good deal of light to get the sundial back up and working again for one more trip into the corridors of time and he was given a list of three ways to gather the amount out light needed, “Fortune…are you sure we can do this?” He looked down to the ghost on his knee, “Crucible is fine but…I don’t know how well I’ll play with knowing all of this is on the line…I should have brought my team…but…but I can’t lose them…” His shoulders started shaking as he forced down the sudden rush of feelings that he was feeling. Exos were seen as cold and unfeeling but he was anything but that.

After he lost his original fireteam the Titan had become more withdrawn and his ghost noticed it. Now it was starting to rear its ugly head; that self-doubt that he had in his mechanical heart from the Red War, “Don’t start thinking like that Theo…You listen to me,” He looked back at her as she was now floating eye level with him, “You need to pull yourself together…you did this once, you can do it again,” Fortune light tapped her shell against his helmet, “He’s in there waiting for you, he feels you’re going to come back to him…You’ve heard Shaxx’s stories about Saint-14…how he talked about a specific guardian that he met in his youth that inspired him. That was you, Theo, YOU are that guardian,” Her eye brightened again, “Now…what do you say we go remake history and inspire the Exo who inspired you?” The titan smiled under his helmet as he got the notice for where the match was going to be held.

Midtown to him was only good for control and that was it but he knew how to get kills on the map and where people hid the most so he staked out a few spots with a graviton lance and started picking off enemies with headshots while his allies took the zones. A few times another guardian got him instead of the other way around but all in all, he was having a good match, “Keep your mind on the match…and not what the kills are meant for…” That was the phrase he repeated over and over both out loud as well as in his head until the match was over and he had sixteen kills under his belt but he knew it would take another match to get enough for his to be able to finish what he needed to do. Sitting on his cot aboard his ship Theo started writing down all the reasons he had to do this versus why he shouldn’t do it to see if the benefits outweighed the risks and they did. He rarely went back on his word so he would have to go through with it no matter what, “Are we cued up for another match Fortune?” His ghost gave a slight nod of confirmation as she went back to what she was doing.

Fortune tended to fuss over him if he wasn’t well and she knew if he was lying to her. Honestly, Theo saw it as a good sign she never met Sagira in person, traveler only knew how that would turn out…but he loved his ghost more than anything else sometimes. Even she was able to be taken from him though, everything he loved and held dearly was able to be taken from him, just like his fire team was, “You’re doing it again…” the pencil scratched across the paper as her voice entered his head, “You need to stop thinking like that Theo…we’re on our way to the next match, let’s get these kills and show ‘em the force of the hammer if we get the chance,” Theo nodded, holding his graviton lance in his hands again as he transmatted down with the other five of the team he was on.

This wasn’t his ideal map, Pacifica was a map full of tight corners to ambush opponents and places people liked to hide and snipe from, “On the left, mid-range!” He spun around just in time to attach a grenade to an opposing titan’s helmet but not fast enough to save himself, “Well you killed him at least…” Shaking his head Theo took up the lance again and headed off in a different direction, making mental notes about who was using what weapon and who to watch out for the most. Right now it was a hunter running a chaperone that was becoming an annoyance for him but he got his revenge with one solid headshot from the lance, “Careful, three up ahead and one coming up behind you…might be a good time for the hammer if you can get them in the open,”

That open space just happened to be at zone B as the thee came up to claim the zone while the hunter with the chaperone kept watch but not even his slick shotgun could save him and his buddies when they all started looking around for the super once they heard the clang of the siege hammer. “Fore!” He jumped into the air, slamming his siege hammer down on to the middle of the group, watching one hit the wall, two turned to ash from the impact, and the last one was brutally slammed into the window by a sideways swing of the hammer, “How many more do I need Fortune?” The ghost hummed before responding that he needed three more kills so he took off at a full sprint, hammer still in hand to find more guardians to smash into fiery dust.

Only one more guardian met the siege hammer but the other three that he crossed met the perfect paradox, one of them Theo even managed to shoot right in the face, “twenty seconds, they’re down by forty points, and it looks like they left zone A unguarded,” It wasn’t hard to guess at what she was intending for him to do so he took off running for zone A, sliding behind the square before getting to his feet. No opponents show up to take the zone from him so he waited, capturing the zone while the clock ran out, “Nice, now it’s just twenty-five super kills…sorry twenty super kills and twenty-five orbs of light collected,” She turned to look at him, light reflecting off of her shell. I had been a gag gift from their team warlock last dawning; a shell designed like Sagira’s shell that Vance had given the warlock. Jack though thought it would be funny and gave it to the titan wrapped up in a nice box. “This shouldn’t be that hard…a few good runs in some lost sectors with a super and masterwork weapons and you’ll be set,” Fortune was trying to keep his spirit up but she could see he was starting to falter again, “The flashpoint’s on Nessus this week…want to go clear some lost sectors there? You’ll get the light we need and you’ll get the flashpoint done since you’re over halfway done with it anyway,” Plotting a course for Artifact’s Edge, Fortune kept checking on him and if he noticed the Titan wasn’t saying anything.


	2. Chapter 2

Most guardians had their favorite lost sectors, the ones they frequented more often than not. The Orrery, on Nessus, was one of his. He could snipe and from a distance, until it came time to wreck the boss which he went all-in with his super for, “Feeling better now that you’ve gotten some solo killing in?” All Theo did was give a hum in response as they exited the lost sector and he made a beeline for the public even that was about to start not far from where they were, activating the banner to get his full super and full ammo back before the event started. The longer the titan stood there the heavier the paradox in his hands felt. It was a reminder of what his promise, that Saint was waiting for him to come back to him, to see him again. Hopefully, he would make it before it was too late. He couldn’t bear the thought of another death that he could have prevented, that he was tasked with preventing, “Guardian? Guardian! Eyes up!” He had been so lost in thought that if it hadn’t been for his ghost’s notification he would have been slammed by the Cabal legionary that landed right behind him.

Spinning around the solar titan delivered a solid blow from the shotgun that took the legionary’s helmet off just before a warlock turned it to void dust with a sword. Swapping to his favored Graviton Lance he started picking off the Cabal at a distance, dropping orbs for the others who didn’t make it to the banner beforehand. The warlock who had nullified the cabal legionary earlier came up beside him with a subtle calamity and started pulled headshots on the psions farther out. Eventually, the decision came to him to forgo the gun and went with his super to go all out on the Cabal. Even though the super ran out before the boss was dead it allowed him to start picking up the orbs that were being dropped by the other guardians to start filling up another section of the request for light.

It could be, without saying, that Titans were tenacious. Not as much as hunters were by no means since nothing was more determined than a hunter; especially a hunter that was told they couldn’t do something, but they were almost as determined. Fortune knew her titan was not much different from the rest of the titans out there but in a way he was different. He had trouble letting the red war go, she knew he blamed himself for the deaths of his fireteam at the hands of the Cabal, but he wasn’t even near the city when it happened. There was no way he could have made a difference; they barely made it off of Venus when the light disappeared with all the Vex around but he still hated himself for the simple fact that he lived and his original fireteam, the only family that he knew at the time, died. From the event the Theo ran back off into the lost sector to clear it again knowing that the Vex had already moved into the area to refortify the area which worked for him just fine, collecting orbs of light and finally leveling the boss with his super again, giving him the last little bit he needed for the Sundial recharging.

He didn’t return to Mercury right away, his synthetic nerves were too frayed for him to do much of anything at that given moment as the weight of the coming situation hit him like a heavy shank. They were going to go back into the corridors of time and ultimately bring Saint back into life again. Summoning his ship Theo jumped back into orbit and headed for the city, he needed some time alone to tackle his thoughts before taking the leap. Touching down in the courtyard, the Titan made his way to the hangar to have a talk with one of the only Exos he trusted; the Hunter Vanguard Cayde-6, “Cayde…” The hunters gathered around their vanguard turned to look at the Titan as he approached and started whispering amongst themselves until Theo took his helmet off, drawing a soft smile from the vanguard, “Cayde…do you have a minute?… I really need to talk to someone…about something…”The hunter nodded and dismissed the pack that was still lingering around him. Finally left alone with the titan Cayde patted the box next to him, inviting the guardian to sit down.

Theo accepted the invitation and dropped onto the crate, “All right, so what is this all about?” When the titan seemed to be having trouble starting his thoughts Cayde continued, “You know I won’t tell the others what you tell me unless you’re at risk of hurting yourself, your ghosts or someone else’s ghost…So…what’s eating you?” One more sidelong glance and Theo sighed, there was no denying the hunter vanguard when he wanted an answer.

Taking as deep a breath as he could visualize the titan idly picked at the cuff of his sleeve, “Swear you won’t tell anyone else Cayde?” Once he got confirmation that whatever was said was between the two of them and the chicken he told him about the request he accepted from Osiris and about the sundial, “I’m just…I’m not going to go back on my word but…I’m just…I’m nervous and I just needed to talk to someone…” He got back to his feet, adjusting the shotgun that was always on his back and excused himself to go prepare himself for this ordeal.

Cayde watched him rise but he caught the titan’s hand, “Hey, don’t pressure yourself too much about this. No one is going to hold it against you if you can’t do this. You’ve done enough in just two years that you can let yourself take a deep breath, okay?” Cayde worried about the Exo just like he worried about all of the guardians that came to him, hunter and Exo alike but all Theo did was nod and head for the landing docks to summon his jump ship since he was already in the hangars.

The return to Mercury was tense for both of them as not only Osiris was waiting but Sagira was as well to see them off on their trip, “Guardian, This is it, the big jump!” Sagira’s diamonds spun in excitement as she watched them approach, “You gathered enough light to charge the sundial for another run into the corridors of time,” the ghost looked to Osiris who just shook his head so Sagira turned back to the other guardian, her eye softening as her tone did as well, “You’re going to do fine. Osiris and I will be monitoring you as you traverse the corridors. If you start to have too many problems just get your ghost to contact us and we’ll see if we can help you can make it out, with help of course,” She sounded so sure of herself but the titan just shared a look with his ghost who was giving Sagira the best deadpan look a ghost could muster. Maybe he was wrong about what would happen should his ghost meet Sagira. At the moment Fortune wasn’t too fond of the other construct and disappeared back into her guardian’s armor with a soft huff. He would no doubt be hearing about this when they were out fo range of the other ghost.

Osiris cut off anything else his ghost was going to say with a gesture of his hand, “You know how to activate the podium for the Sundial guardian, take your time” His dark eyes softened as he watched the titan shift on his feet, body tense with uncertainty, “I know this feels like a very big job guardian, and it is. But do not let the weight of this action weigh on your mind. There is no failure in not being able to save him.” The exiled warlock took a step back as if to give him some space before returning to what he had been doing as Theo made his way over to the podium. This was it, there was no turning back once he activated the Sundial and was in the corridors of time again. He paused, hand on inches from the mechanism. Should he call for his fire team? They wouldn’t say no to the request for back up, one if not both of them would show up at the sundial to help him with this; all he had to do was make the call to them but he shook his head. He did this once the first time by himself and he would do this again, by himself.


	3. Chapter 3

Once the glove of his metal-plated gauntlet hit the podium’s control center nothing felt right. He was strangely used to the flashes as they entered the corridors as well as everything turning black and white but he still felt strange. There was no visible pathway under his feet but yet he didn’t fall into oblivion, that alone bothered him. Breaking into a run Theo cleared the path as fast as he could, stopping just on the other side of the door to see where the open pathway was. It was just his luck that it was on the other side of the field, past all the cyclopes and harpies. Great, “…Run for it…” He had never heard his ghost sound so scared but he listened, staying to the broad pathway that circled where the cyclopes were, dodging or shoulder charging the harpies that were in his way.

“Ah dammit!” He hissed a few times as lasers scorched and nicked his armor but once he cleared the gateway to the next corridor he stopped to examine his armor knowing he was safe and sound. The fur mantel of his armor is singed by the harpy lasers and he smelled faintly like radiolaria which he resigned himself to the fact he would have to get used to. The next room made him stop and look for a minute. A crisscrossing grid of red beams covered the area so Theo ducked down behind a pillar, switched to a long-range weapon, and picked off the enemies before making his way slow and steady over to the door to his next corridor. It took a lot of crouching and some jumping to make it through the maze of lasers without setting one-off, “How many more rooms do you think we have to go through?” He summoned Fortune once they were in the clear. He hadn’t meant for her to heal him, he just wanted to feel her physically she could ground himself. He knew about Osiris’ offer but he refused to admit he needed help with something like this.

She settled in his palm and hummed slightly, shifting her eye to look up to him, “You’re doing great, we should have two more rooms to clear before we find Saint,” Fortune floated up and lightly bumped his helmet with her shell again, “ready to set out?” He nodded and watched her disappear from his hand, returning to her safe place in his armor as he set out again. They ran through two more rooms full of Vex but nothing too surprising like harpy missiles and the like. Eventually, they crossed the threshold for the final pathway, “He should be up ahead. Just remember, there is no shame in saving your light for another battle, as Zavala would say,” That got the Exo to chuckle at her vocal impersonation of the commander. It was enough to make him keep going though despite the unease that was settling in his core.

The pathway changed halfway through, becoming what Theo knew from his time on Mercury with his fire team. He slowed to a trot, shotgun at the ready but paused before he crossed the barrier for the last time. This was it, no going back now. He had to go through that gateway, find Saint and save him. There was no time to second guess himself so he steeled his nerves and took the plunge. The jump was disorientating, “Topographical markers put this location as near present-day Mercury…this is it, we’ve found the location!” His ghost confirmation, excited as it was, was grounding as he shook his head to clear his vision, rounding a boulder just in time to see a Vex get blown to shreds by a well-placed shotgun kill, “There he is, Saint.

The other titan turned as if hearing his name from the ghost, “My friend, I was just about to send my ghost away but now that you’re here we’ll be fine,” He holstered his shotgun on his back, not missing the near-identical one in Theo’s hands and nodded in approval of his choice of weapon, “The martyr mind is up ahead. It won’t stand a chance against the two of — us?!” Struggle as he may Saint couldn’t break the binds that now had him around both wrists and ankles so all Theo could do was watch in stunned shock as Saint disappeared, reappearing up on top of a spire behind the Vex mind. He couldn’t move, it wasn’t till he heard Saint calling down to him that he remembered where he was and what he was doing. Ducking behind a rock Theo made sure his shotgun was loaded as was everything else before taking the fight to the approaching goblins. Occasionally he was forced back down the slope to take cover and reload his weapons but then he was right back up again, blowing Vex apart with each trigger pull, “You fight like a monster! I love it!”

The motivational words from the other titan were enough to keep him going all he stopped for a second as the mind disappeared behind a barrier, “Fortune? We need to drop that barrier, any suggestions?” He slid into a small opening under the spire trying to catch his breath as he reloaded. Theo wasn’t dumb enough to summon her but just talking to his ghost helped keep him focused as she pointed out the minotaur that used to be a statue but was now walking around, “Kill the minotaur, grab the arc charge, and drop it on the pedestal?” He got a not quite sure sound in agreement from his ghost as they were both out of their elements but it was the best idea between the two of them so he went with it. Surfacing again Theo scanned the area for the Vex in question, “Where did it go?” Eventually, he spotted it across the battlefield, not far from its origin point, “Full yellow with a shield…great…” He checked his weapons before running straight for the Minotaur, pulling his siege hammer at the last minute and taking the minotaur’s legs out with it only to swing it back up again and bringing spike side down into the reservoir of radiolaria in the middle of the large Vex.

He wasted the rest of the hammer on some surrounding goblins that were getting too close for comfort before he grabbed the charge and deposited it in the podium, “That should bring that barrier down,” Now he was without a super but he traded his weaponry for his heavy; a rocket launcher with a tracking module, locked on, and fired. He got two shots off, both critical damage, before the Mind went back behind its barrier, “So…wash, rise, repeat huh? Sounds good to me,” He looked up to the Titan watching him from the spire, “how are you holding up Saint?” Whether he could hear Theo or not was unknown but hearing a comment from him was enough of a confirmation ht he was at least still with him, “I see only two more Minotaur statues so…” A red laser grazed his helmet, causing Theo to duck back down behind a rock face, “If I can do damage to at least a third of his health each time he’s available this should go quickly,” Hearing a hum from his ghost Theo smiled, knowing that meant she was happy that he was thinking like this and not panicking. That wasn’t to say the feeling wasn’t there that he wasn’t concerned constantly that Saint wouldn’t live through this but there was so much combat going on that he was more focused on staying alive more than anything else.

Things were going great for him now that he had the martyr Mind’s pattern down and the spawn pattern of the Vex memorized. For time-traveling robots, they were predictable in their movements sometimes. He fell into a nice pattern of slaughtering Vex till the Mind disappeared which meant that he was now facing off with another of the three minotaurs. The final one was down where he came up from but he had a problem. Those harpies. They were just out of the range of his auto rifle so he swapped to an energy scout rifle that could pick them off at a distance to give him an opening to get at the minotaur. Super or no super that Vex wasn’t staying in one piece but he had to save his heavy for the Mind which meant it was time to slaughter it with every round of shotgun ammo he had.

Once the minotaur dropped he picked the orb up and dunked it for the last time but this time he didn’t get the chance to fight back, “What the hell?!” Theo struggled and fought back against the containment the Vex Mind had him in and it was sending his anxiety to new levels as the Mind appeared where he was, aiming its rifle right at the titan. Closing his eyes Theo put his head down slightly, “I’m sorry Osiris…Saint…everyone, I…I failed…” Normally Fortune would get after him for that kind of thinking, but all she did was try and comfort him as both of them though they were going to die.

It was then he felt something about the Vex net he was captured in shift, “Can feel the light in my bones!” That statement got Theo attention as he opened his eyes and looked up, finally seeing now that Saint was free of his containment and though he couldn’t see his expression he had a feeling the titan was mad, “Martyr Mind! Time to die!” In what was one of the most impressive Sentinel Shield strikes Theo had ever seen, Saint went airborne just as his shield appeared on his arm and the next thing the titan knew the Martyr Mind went down in a blaze of Void energy and radiolaria in a fiery explosion. Once his boots hit the ground again Theo checked his shotgun and made his way over to Saint, “It has been a long time my friend. I have chased your memory for centuries,” Theo wasn’t sure what to say to that but he was sure he was becoming embarrassed being praised by the guardian that had inspired him so he just nodded in response.

Fortune appeared above his shoulder, her eye focused intently on Saint, “What will you do now? Come back with us?” She sounded hopeful that he would say yes but he the tian show his head, “No? You…won’t be coming back with us?”

Again Saint shook his head, “The beings that could kill me are dead, you made sure about that but I still have things to do here,” He turned his back to them as Vex started appearing around the spire, “Go back and open the Vex gateway for me, I’ll meet you the long way around,” There was a smile in his voice as he turned back to the Vex. Theo moved to stand beside him but found himself stuck as he started to get pulled back to his own time.


	4. Chapter 4

Returning to the Sundial, Theo didn’t bother to try and tell Osiris what had happened, instead, he headed through one of the openings that headed to Mercury’s past as a titan with a mission. The sooner he got this gateway open the better off both of them were going to be. First, though, he had to get rid of the Vex that were in the area. They mean business though so Theo ducked down behind a pillar, took out his graviton lance and picked off the one closest to them, “He’s watching us you know…” Theo glanced around as he reloaded as if asking who was watching them, “Osiris, he’s watching us. He’s trying to focus on something else but he’s clearly watching us,” After blowing another goblin up with a critical shot from the lance Theo glanced behind themselves to see that Osiris was, in fact, watching them.

He wasn’t directly looking at them, no, the warlock was too vain and proud to admit that, but Osiris was watching them out of the corner of his eye, “He does know Saint’s most likely not coming back immediately, right?” His own voice sounded foreign to him. It sounded saddened, depressed even but he wasn’t going to admit that he was sad Saint didn’t come back with them. The tan understood his reasons for staying where he was and that he would work his way back to them on his own, Theo just had to go open the door for him. The boss though was getting on his nerves, staying just where he couldn’t shoot him enough to do massive damage, “To hell with this!” Holstering his gun on his back he went for this super, smashing the light out of the cyclops until his super ran out and his flaming hammer disappeared. He stood there silently, his chest heaving as he stared down at the remains of the cyclops and goblins that were scattered around the conflux.

Fortune silently floated around her titan’s head, bumping his helmet with her shell, “Theo? Theodoros? Are you all right?” Theo looked up to see Fortune less than a few inches from his helmet, “You went a little dark…are you feeling okay?” Had he been out? He hadn’t noticed that she was even talking to him till she bumped his helmet. Shaking his head Theo walked over to the conflux as she continued talking, “Maybe after this you need to go home and get some sleep…we’ve been gone for…going on five days…be ready for a shit-storm when we get home…I guess the vanguard has been trying to contact us while we were in the corridors of time…” Why had the Vanguard been trying to contact him? Had Cayde told Ikora and she became concerned? He didn’t see that as being likely, but it was always possible that the hunter got concerned and told the warlock. That wouldn't sit well he had a feeling.

Watching Fortune scan the conflux to open the gateway the titan let his mind wander. Was the duty to acclimate Saint-14 to the modern tower and city life going to fall on him? Theo wasn’t sure how or if he would be able to handle that. That was all to come through, for now, he just had to be concerned with Saint making it through the gateway back to them. Theo dropped down on to the edge of the grass, idly swinging his feet back and forth before heaving a sigh. This was going to be near impossible for him. It wasn’t that he was dreading doing this, he was elated that he had managed to do what was deemed the impossible but now the weight of the consequences was starting to weigh on his mind heavily. He had experienced something close to this after the Red War was over and he still wasn't better for it, “Fortune? Do you think everything will be okay?” He looked to her to see her staring back at him, her conflux scanning stopped at the question posed by her guardian, “After all of this is said and done I mean…do you think…it’ll effect time that much?” He studied the scuffs on his armor as he spoke, turning his gauntlets over, again and again, watching how the Mercurian sunlight shone off of the metallic red of his armor. Not waiting for a response from his ghost, Theo Shook his head as he rose to his feet again, the gateway opening behind him. Try as he might the anxiety over the whole situation was mounting inside of him, feeling like he was going to get ripped apart by it. What he saw though was not what he had been expecting.

A goblin was sent flying back-first through the gateway, crashing onto the paver path. It righted itself and attempted reentry; only to be punched to death with one solid strike from a now-familiar gauntlet as Saint emerged from the gateway, dragging another goblin by the leg with one hand only to shot it int eh head with his shotgun, “My name is Saint-14, they call me the greatest Titan who ever lived,” Without moving his helmet Theo could feel that Saint was now looking at him and Fortune, “But, I would be dead if not for you,” Saint glanced over his shoulder as Theo pulled his pulse rifle and aimed it at the gateway, backing up slightly to get a better aim at the hulking Minotaur passing through the gateway.

As the minotaur moved to attack Saint backlashed the attack with a well-timed shield bash but he didn’t back away afterward. Instead, much to Theo’s confusion and amazement, the titan approached the Vex and head-butted it. The Sunbreaker just shouldered his pulse rifle and watched in silence as Saint did this not once, not twice, but five times before dropping the minotaur to the side and backing up, “What do you think he’s…?” Theo glanced over to his ghost who was now just above his right pauldron. Fortune had come out to get a better look at what was going on, “oh dear…Saint…” Theo shook his head but couldn’t stop watching the titan. He was amazed that Saint was actually doing this, “Saint don’t…Saint!” She turned to Theo, “Should we stop him?” Again he shook his head as the void titan proceeded to grab one of the dead goblins off the ground, put it around the back of the minotaur so that Saint was holding on to it on both sides, then he reared back and managed to finally ram his helmet through the radiolaria reservoir in the middle of the Vex. All Theo could do was flinch.

Turning back to him Saint continued with what he was saying, “Since the day I met you, I swore I would make it my duty to follow your example,” He clapped his hands together before shaking the Radiolaria off of his gloves. Eventually, he just conceded to the fact that his helmet, chest plate, and gloves were covered with the fluid, “And I am still trying,” Taking a step toward Theo Saint embraced him in a tight hug, “I trust you are well my friend?” As he pulled back Theo stared down at the radiolaria covering his armor. If he thought it was ruined before, it was definitely ruined down. As Theo nodded Saint returned the gesture, “I will follow you back to the tower but I have…unfinished business here.” Again the Sunbreaker just nodded before turning to enter the sundial.

Once inside he made his way over to Osiris who turned to greet him, “You managed the impossible…You did the one thing I never managed to,” He glanced over to Saint who he could still see through the barrier just enjoying the feeling of Mercury again and enjoying being alive before directing his attention back to Theo, “Saint…he will need help adjusting to this modern life. The tower and everything has changed so much since he last walked free.” He thanked Theo before the titan left to return to the tower. This would take some getting used to, having Saint-14 around again but Sagira was quick to reassure Osiris as Theo was leaving that it would be no harder to handle than their previous endeavors and that all it would take was time for things to get settled again. All of them would have to adapt in some way to all of this.

Theo's return to the tower was quieter than he had been expecting so he slipped off to his quarters after letting his fire team know he was back in the area and hoped none of them would rat him out. Once inside he locked the apartment door, changed out of his armor into something a lot more comfortable, and went to take a long nap, but not before letting his ghost know to hold any messages he received as he was not going to be answering them at the given time, “I got it, Theo, go get some sleep before you overdo your systems. You've been doing things that I'm sure no Exo was meant for...and then some...” The ending sounded like an afterthought as she shooed him off to bed so she could start fielding, sorting, and answering the messages that had accumulated over the course of their adventure through the Sundial. After that was done she went about tidying up the apartment since even though it was small it never failed to get dirty in the time they were gone. Following messages and apartment cleaning she took a look at the damage her titan's armor sustained. It wasn't much but she mended the worst of it, repairing the shader job before finally going in and settling down beside Theo who was in a deep sleep and snoring slightly to get some rest as well.


	5. Chapter 5

What woke Theo up from his slumber wasn’t the harsh sounds of the city outside his apartment but his ghost nudging him with one of the diamonds around her shell, “Theo, Theo, wake up! You really need to wake up and see who’s here!” His optics took a minute to brighten to full strength but once they did he sat up and stretched, turning to look at her still somewhat sleepy, “Come on, wake yourself up all the way sleepy head!” Reaching out, Theo snatched her out of the air and shoved her into the still-warm pillow, “Theo!”

A soft smile ghosted over his facial plates as her muffled words reached him, “That’s what you get for waking me up Fortune,” Eventually he released his hand from the back of her shell, smiling as she huffed at him before moving to the door, “Who’s here?” He paused looking at the calendar, “and what day is it?” He felt like he had been sleeping for only a few hours but she rolled her eye at him, “…How long have I been sleeping Fortune?”

Again she looked at him, still not pleased about being pushed into the pillow, “ You’ve been sleeping for almost three days. I let the fire team know you were back and that you had completely signed off and passed out but you need to get up now and head down for the hangar,” She smiled as her eye brightened, “A…friend is here looking for you.” That perked him up as Theo got out of bed, washed himself up and put his armor on. He had no idea who would be here looking for him but he wasn’t going to argue if someone was looking for him.

Theo left his apartment, locking the door behind him and passing his fireteam’s hunter on the way out of the apartment block, “Zaazi,” The awoken turned to look at him from chatting with her ghost, “have you heard about anything happening in the hangars?” She hung around Cayde like the rest of the hunters did and Cayde was posted in the hangars so if something was happening in there the hunters were the first to know and the first to spread to the story. She shrugged as she thought about the request.

Was something strange happening in the hangars? Multiple people came and went almost every day from the place just like anywhere else in the tower but her ghost just glanced between them a few times as his guardian started speaking, “Not really…this strange ship showed up,” The hunter nodded before as if confirming the thought to herself as she continued, “It’s called the Grey Pigeon and the titan pilot was looking for you,” cocking her head to the side she waited to see if he would respond. Upon getting no response she looked to her ghost, “it’s some titan I’ve never seen before, wears grey and a little bit of purple but he wears the exotic Helmet of Saint-14. Cayde seems familiar with him so there’s that…said something about owing the guy glimmer…” That wasn’t unusual for the hunter vanguard to owe someone something with the way the hunter was known to bet on things.

The titan had initially thought about cutting their conversation short but when she described the armor there was no one else it could have been, “Thanks Zaazi, If you see Jack tell him I’ll see you guys later, maybe for Crucible or Gambit okay?” Theo turned on his heels and headed for the hangars as fast as he could. Titans may not have been the fastest class but there was something to be said that you never stood in the way of a guardian that was running, let alone one that was running in a full sprint. Theo jumped the staircases leading down to the hangar from the courtyard, and almost wiped out turning the corner because the traction of his boots gave out, “Shit!” He put his hands to the wall to catch himself before his helmet connected with said wall causing a rather harsh thud sound.

In the back of his mind, he could hear Fortune chiding him, “Theo, slow down. He’s not going anywhere so you can slow down and maybe walk a little bit to get there…” He wasn’t listening again as he pushed himself up off the wall, rubbing his hands together before shaking them out. At least no-one had seen him wipe out and hit the wall but he finally heeded Fortune’s warning, slowing down as he rounded the corner to enter the hangars, “See? now you haven’t hurt yourself again AND you managed to make it to the hangars without making a fool of yourself.” Theo rolled his optics as he plodded down the stairs as quiet as a titan in full armor could be, head swiveling side to side; scanning for the newcomer to the tower. He never came down to the hangars, even in the original tower he avoided the hangars. They were always too noisy and busy for his liking and though his helmet buffed some of the noise it was still a little too loud for the Exo’s liking.

Cayde waved him over to his station before Theo could get much further into the hangars, “The man of the hour arrives finally. Hey, Saint’s been lookin’ for you,” He said it such nonchalance that Theo was wondering if he was still dreaming, “well not you by name but I can’t think if many more Exo sun breaker titans with a penchant for shiny red armor with a matching ghost shell, who also carries a perfect paradox, a graviton lance, and a bad omens rocket launcher….” Any remark that was on the tip of his proverbial tongue died at that description. Yes, those were the weapons he used on both encounters with Saint but shiny red armor? Theo looked himself over then Fortune, seeing that the hunter was, in fact, correct and that Theo’s armor was shaded with Crucible vermillion, giving him a very shiny metallic red color. His shoulders dropped wit that revelation that Saint was looking for him with that description. How many other guardians were looking for him now? The thought of being looked for like that just him uneasy but he forced the feeling down before he had to really deal with it, “He’s over by his ship, at the landing pads, across the hangar soccer field.” He nodded and headed the way he was directed as Cayde went back to talking to his hunters and whatever else it was he did.

Honestly, he wasn’t sure what any of the Vanguard actually did but now wasn’t the time to be thinking about that as his boots hit the tarmac of the improvised soccer field the guardians had set up for themselves out of the way of the rest of the hangar and there, in the middle docking bay, sat a ship he had never seen before but under it was a titan that he certainly had seen before, “Saint…” Suddenly it felt like the floor under his feet was rolling and he was going to be sick. Osiris hadn’t mentioned any ill-effects from the Sundial but as with anything that hadn’t been exposed to outside use, Theo had to guess there would be some residual effects but this was anything unlike what he was expecting. There were no other guardians around at that hour but in a way that was worse than if there had been a crowd. He hit his knees, tremors wracking his body as he felt like his core temperature plunged. Every sense he had in his body was either firing like no tomorrow or not working at all with no in-between.

It was enough to make the titan want to start crying but it didn’t go unnoticed. A strong, warm hand gripped his shoulder, “Guardian,” The voice was loud to his auditory receptors, a little too loud actually as Theo’s head started to spin. It wasn’t till the other guardian stood up again that Theo realized it was Saint that had been kneeling down in front of him. Saint called to someone who Theo was pretty sure was Cayde for assistance before coming back to him.

The sound of the hunter’s boots on the tarmac was lost to him as Theo gave a shaky breath the best he could, “I’m sorry…I’m sorry…I couldn’t save them…I-…” the whispers were again lost to the sounds that were happening around him. The only voice that reached him was Fortune’s as she told him he was having a panic attack. Reassuring him that they weren’t under attack, that everything was going to be okay, and that she wasn’t going to leave him like she did during the Red War. She knew that was one of his greatest fears; losing her again and not having her there with him. Theo’s head jerked up feeling a weight across his back and went to remove it, only to feel a blanket under his fingers, “a…blanket?” Things started coming back to him while shaky fingers finally found the lock of his helmet and released it, removing the confining object from his head and looking up to lock optics with the titan in front of him, “I’m…I’m sorry…”

The words were still a weak whisper but the silent response was the same warm hand gripping his shoulder, lighter this time than before but it was still the same as it helped him to his feet, “You don’t have to apologize. I understand what it is like to lose your light, to be powerless,” Theo nodded along with the statement. Of course, Saint would know what it was like to be lightless and powerless. All of them knew but Saint had experienced it in a completely different way than Cayde or he had. Theo allowed Fortune to transmat himself back to their apartment but after some one-sided arguing Theo allowed one of them to come with him, he just didn’t expect it to be Saint.


	6. Chapter 6

Upon arrival at the apartment yet again Theo sank down into the cushions of the couch, tugging the blanket that was still over his shoulders closer around himself. Nothing still felt right, even being in his home surrounded by things he was familiar with. Glancing to the side Theo studied Saint who was standing by the arm of the couch, seemingly torn between wanting to help and support the titan and not being sure how to actually go about doing so.

Theo scooted over on the couch and patted the cushion next to him, “Saint, you are a guest in my house, you can have a seat…you don’t have to stay standing the whole time,” The void titan hesitated for a minute before taking a seat beside Theo on the couch much to the protest and groaning of the springs in the cushions, “You didn’t have to come back with me…to my apartment I mean…I’m grateful you did but…” He faltered, unsure of how to continue. Everything had been a whirlwind of emotion and energy since he had stepped through the portal to save Saint. Not even his light felt normal to him anymore but he wasn’t sure if it was actually that way or if he was just thinking it was since he was just coming out of having a panic attack, “This whole time since I woke up…I’ve been hearing stories about the legendary Saint-14 from Lord Shaxx…I never…I never thought that I was the guardian that was being mentioned by you…” Theo trailed off as he tugged at the blanket again but that was when he smelled it.

Lavender, the blanket smelled faintly of lavender but also of something else. Not the typical metallic smell reminiscent of gun oil but it smelled organic, like the earthy smell of seeds and sunflowers. It was strangely comforting but his calm state of mind was ruined by a singular thought; he was going to have to break the news about the speaker to Saint. How would someone even go about doing that? Saint had been gone for traveler knew how long ad the speaker had only been dead for going on two years since the war happened. He tried not to think about it but he knew that it would have to be said eventually. Instead, the titan put on the bravest face he could at the given time to face the other titan just as Saint started talking, “The Last City has changed so much, it is surprising to see how it has grown from the city I knew, but also how it has rebuilt itself from this Red War that happened,” Theo nodded slightly. Of course, Saint probably saw the former tower upon approach though he didn’t know if he had heard the story of what had happened, what the Red Legion did to the guardians, to the traveler.

He spaced out thinking about it so he didn’t hear what Saint was saying until fortune told him that he needed to be paying attention, “-the speaker’s quarters?” Saint was now looking at him intently, apparently getting that Theo hadn’t been listening, “Did they rebuild the speaker’s quarters?” This was the conversation he had been dreading but he had an idea of how to go about doing it.

Theo nodded again, finally taking the blanket off of his shoulders, folding it and holding it in his lap, “Yes they did…I can show you where it is if you want. It's not far from the apartment blocks, just on the other side of the bazaar, in-between the courtyard and the bazaar actually,” the sun breaker got to his feet, rolling his shoulders back before turning to face the sentinel, “What do you say we take a walk? I always end up feeling restless after having an episode like that anyway…” despite sounding like an excuse it was a partial truth as the titan didn’t like to stay idle after such an event. Saint took a minute to study the other Exo before nodding and getting to his feet as well without a word.

The walk from the apartment blocks was quiet as neither of them really had anything to say to the other but despite the lack of topic and the short distance it felt like it was taking longer than just the few minutes it normally took to make that walk that he did every day when he went to go check in with Zavala. As they rounded the top of the stairs Theo stalled ever so slightly, optics fixated on the windows with their decorative grates over them. They were the windows to the Speaker’s quarters. Saint stopped a few feet ahead of him once he realized that Theo had stopped walking, “Is there a problem my friend?” He sounded so sincere and genuinely caring that Theo was caught slightly off guard. That was not how people generally treated Exos, let alone Exo titans. It was usually a tone of fear or resentment against the fact they were humans in machine bodies. Then again, Saint was an Exo titan himself and guardian that felt in treating others the way he wanted to be treated.

Now, of all the times, Theo was glad Exos couldn’t cry as he shook his head, “No, nothing’s wrong…the doors should be just around the corner here…” He had asked Fortune to check with Ikora ahead of time about getting the keys to enter the room when Saint had accompanied him back home. By the grace of the traveler, she agreed to lend him the keys on the condition he behaved himself, to which Theo automatically agreed. Fortune Floated up ahead of them, waiting for the world to give the word to open the doors, “Here we are…” He looked to his companion who just gazed at the doors in front of them, “Saint?”

Saint turned to face him, apprehension clear on the titan’s face even with a helmet on, “Come, my friend, let us go inside…” fortune unlocked the doors just as the void titan’s hand reached them. They gave easily enough and soon they were both standing inside the darkened entryway of the space, “Father…I’m…I’m home,” It hurt more than Theo was willing to admit hearing the other titan’s voice break. This was an Exo who was considered the greatest titan who ever lived and he was nearly breaking from all of this.

He moved to stand next to him, placing a hand on Saint’s arm as they both looked over the quiet room with the only sounds being the muffled sounds of the tower outside the windows, “He was taken by Ghaul during the Red War, a recovery team found his body on Ghaul’s ship following his defeat at the hands of my fire team,” Theo pulled his hand back, “The reports said he was cold and had been dead for a while when he was found.” This must’ve been how Jack and Zaazi felt trying to break the news about his dead fire team to him when their bodies had been found. Saint was taking it a lot better than he had, he had outright called Lord Shaxx a liar before running off all because he didn’t want to accept that his family, his team was gone. He was so absorbed in his thoughts about the past that the sound of a helmet depressurizing was almost lost on him. Looking back to Saint, Theo’s optics brightened seeing he had taken his helmet off.

He wasn’t meaning to stare, certainly not, but no one ever mentioned what Saint looked like under the helmet. By Exo standards he was pretty; pearlescent white coloring with a purple brow plate, but what really caught his attention was Saint’s optics. They were lavender color. Not the harsh purple that the had seen on the few Exos but a softer purple that was bordering on becoming pink but was still clearly purple. It took him a minute to realize that Saint was speaking to him again, “All of this has been left untouched?” He recovered and nodded, “Is that out of respect?” Again he nodded feeling this wasn’t the place for him to say much more but those responses mustn’t have been what Saint was looking for as he turned to the titan, “Guardian, you can speak. I can’t hear your brain rattling inside your skull. I know you have a brain and a voice, use them!”

Theo flinched back at the sudden force behind Saint’s words but he didn’t back down. He pulled his shoulders back to look the titan in the face, “Yes, this has been left untouched since the tower was rebuilt. I can talk to Ikora, see about getting the title for the quarters put into your name since you would technically be his next of kin.” It sounded strange to him, that an Exo would have next of kin but he had heard of stranger things happening, “We can go ask her after we leave here…” When Saint didn’t respond Theo turned to him, “I know…I know this is probably hard. Coming back to someplace that you only dreamed of but originally would never see come to light…If you need anything, anything at all Saint, you just let me know okay?”

The void titan nodded before turning on his heels to leave the room after donning his helmet again. Theo followed suit, wondering where they were headed, “Do you have a spare set of armor I could borrow?” The question caught the sun breaker off guard as he ran a mental checklist containing all the of the armor he had available. Fortune sent a preliminary lineup spec to the titan’s ghost to see what he thought about it: a set of binary Phoenix armor, same style that Theo had worn while saving Saint, but shaded in a vibrant black and red, the crucible prestige shader, from head to foot, “That will work. He won’t be expecting me to be dressed like that,” A low chuckle escaped the titan as Theo transferred the armor set to his ghost, “the weapons don’t matter, hopefully, he won’t get that good a look at me.” Theo could only guess what the why the other titan was asking for another set of armor but he didn’t ask any more questions. Once Saint had gotten settled into his new set of armor with the matching shader applied to his iconic helmet the sentinel headed out towards the courtyard, “Geppetto…do you still have what is needed for this?”

The ghost, now in its own sort of camouflage with a simple ghost shell borrowed from Fortune, nodded before supplying Saint with the requested items, “Saint…If I may ask; what are you planning to do with…” Theo picked up his pace a little to see what the titan was holding, “Peanut butter and birdseed?” The sun breaker tried to think of what those things would be needed for but he got no response until his ghost chirped with surprise, “What Fortune?” Once his ghost told him Theo couldn’t help the disbelief in his voice but he kept his voice down, “Prank Shaxx? That’s what we’re going to do?” Saint looked back to him over his shoulder and nodded, “We’d better be prepared to run then…”

At that Saint laughed, “Only if you don’t want to get caught, my friend. Someone will pull the prank and the other will get a picture of it, all right?” Theo wasn’t sure which one he was willing to be but he shared a look with his ghost, “Will you be willing to pull the prank or take the picture?” After some careful consideration, the sun breaker nodded, agreeing to be the one who was willing to take the picture while Saint put the peanut butter and birdseed on Shaxx’s horn.

Making it across the bridge the duo split up with Saint approaching Shaxx by the Vaults which suited him just fine as he had a weapon to claim from the Crucible handler, “Lord Shaxx, I have finished the Revoker…I’m here to see how I go about claiming it,” It was a good thing Theo had a helmet on so Shaxx couldn’t see his eyes flicking between Shaxx and Saint who was coming up behind the Crucible handler. How long Saint had been planning this Theo wouldn’t ever be able to figure out but it all happened so fast after he had Shaxx’s attention focused on him that Theo wasn’t sure what truly happened, “Lord Shaxx?”

As quietly as he could, Saint applied peanut butter to the top of his horn before applying an ample sprinkling of birdseed Once completed Saint backed up to a safe distance whispering, “now for the birds, enjoy,” It wasn’t Saint that he heard, but Geppetto instead, as Saint made a very accurate sounding pigeon call sound to where within the span of fewer than five minutes three pigeons had made themselves at home on the titan’s helmet; two on the top of his head and one on the horn, “Oh dear.”

That was the cue for Fortune as she took a picture, saving before sharing it with Theo just as the titan started backing away from the man and was halfway past the Vaults when he finally spoke up, “Lord Shaxx…your helmet…” He tried to sound as innocent as possible but trying to hide the laughter in his voice was something else. By the time Shaxx realizes what was happening followed by a shriek that got even Zavala’s attention, calling to Arcite to help him get rid of the birds Theo and Saint were booking it down towards the bazaar as fast as they could, laughing hysterically. “That…that was the funniest thing I think I’ve seen in years!” Rounding the corner, Theo had to stop and catch his breath keeping one hand on the pillar to keep his balance, “I…am going to be banned from the Crucible for a while for this I think,” He took a few deep breathing motions to calm himself before turning to face Saint, “That prank was very well planned Saint. How long have you been holding onto that one?”

The sentinel huffed a laugh as he leaned against the wall, “for too long my brother,” Saint glanced towards the traveler to see Ikora watching them so he motioned for Theo to follow him down into the Annex where they could leave the tower easily, “Where to? What do you want to go do?” The expectant nature of Saint's question left Theo unable to answer. He could only think of things that had to be done that were asked of him. He wasn’t sure what he wanted to do and Saint seemed to know that, “Let us go down into the city. Walk amongst the people we protect,” His voice softened, “and get you out of the tower. I heard from people that you and your team have been fighting and helping since the day you woke up, never taking a day for yourself.” There was nothing Theo could say in response so he conceded and agreed to show Saint around the city. Maybe he could show him some of his favorite places that were quiet and serene but they would have to see.


End file.
